LOUISVILLE, Ky. (FOX 56) – Morehead State’s hoops heritage is well-documented. The Eagles have produced talent on the hardwood for decades. The program has also produced some good coaches over the years. A former MSU player, Jalen Courtney-Williams, is now working his way up the coaching ranks.
Courtney-Williams played at Morehead State from 2013-15, transferring in from LSU. He graduated from MSU and after his final game at Johnson Arena, transitioned to coaching. He started as a graduate assistant at Mississippi State, before becoming a video coordinator for the Bulldogs. He then spent four years at McNeese State before joining Greg McDermott’s staff at Creighton.
He’s in his second season with the Blue Jays and has been tabbed as a “high-level recruiter” by coaches he has worked under. He says learning from Sean Woods, Preston Spradlin, and more coaches from the Eagles’ coaching tree helped ease his transition from player to coach.
“It wasn’t that tough of a transition, but I give the credit to the people I was around,” Courtney-Williams told FOX 56 Sports. “You talk about Sean Woods, you talk about Preston Spradlin, you talk about Jonathan Mattox who’s an assistant at Murray State, Brian Ellis, who’s no longer in the business, but really good coaches that I got a chance to spend time with here, that really helped me transition from being a player, and then to a coach for the rest of my career.”
Creighton takes on Princeton, who’s head coach, Mitch Henderson, grew up in Lexington for a couple of years.
